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Liz Shuler

Liz Shuler is the secretary-treasurer/chief financial officer of the AFL-CIO, one of three top-level officers for the federation and the first-ever woman elected to the position. Coming from Portland, Ore., Liz has been at the forefront of such progressi

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Liz Shuler is the secretary-treasurer/chief financial officer of the AFL-CIO, one of three top-level officers for the federation and the first-ever woman elected to the position. Coming from Portland, Ore., Liz has been at the forefront of such progressive labor initiatives as green jobs programs and the fight for workers’ rights for many years, starting as a political activist and an organizer at the local union level. Prior to her election as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, Liz worked her way up through the ranks of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), from Local Union 125 in Portland to the executive leadership at the international headquarters in Washington, D.C. Today, as chief financial officer of the federation, Liz chairs the AFL-CIO Executive Council Committee on Finance, oversees the federation’s internal operations and leads the federation’s young worker and women’s initiatives and its repositioning efforts. Liz also represents the AFL-CIO on various boards and committees, such as the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust and the Women’s Committee of the International Trade Union Confederation.

Blog Post List

Join us in wishing the Family and Medical Leave Act a happy 22nd anniversary! In this brief video , Carmen Berkley, director of the AFL-CIO Office of Civil, Human and Women's Rights, tells us why the FMLA is important and stresses the need for an additional paid sick leave law. Next week, the Senate will take up a bill introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to allow millions of workers to earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time they could use to care for themselves or a family member. Similar bills are being introduced by state lawmakers all across...

More than 100 years ago, after Upton Sinclair worked undercover in Chicago meatpacking plants, he revealed the abuse and exploitation of immigrant workers in the industry—including the tragic story of a worker who fell into a rendering tank. Public reaction to his great book, “ The Jungle ,” forced federal measures to make food safer—but not workers safer. There shouldn’t be any separation between good food and good jobs, because working conditions in the food system are everyone else’s eating conditions. Unions represent workers throughout the food system—farm workers, meat cutters, poultry...

We’ve heard for months that the economy is improving, except for one stubborn problem: workers’ wages aren’t rising the way they should be in a recovery. Productivity goes up, corporate profits go up, CEO pay goes way up—but most working people’s paychecks are stuck. What we haven’t heard as much about is how we can raise wages. The economy is not like the weather—it doesn’t just happen to us, and we don’t have to just sit and wait for it to get better. The leaders we elect make the policy decisions that can fix the economy. Now it’s our job to put enough pressure on them until they actually do.

For a lot of working people, this holiday season will be one of belt-tightening rather than shopping sprees. Let’s face it, our wages just aren’t keeping up the way they used to. Here’s a fact: Average income for the least rich 90% of us has been flat since the 1970s, although people are working more hours. Not a recipe for a holiday-buying bonanza. The answer isn’t to cut back even more, it’s to raise wages. One sure way to put more money in consumers’ pockets and place upward pressure on pay is by raising the minimum wage—a sorely needed move that is stymied in Congress, although 20 states...

Walmart. On one hand we have the Walton family—Walmart’s owners. With almost $150 billion in wealth, they are the richest family in the nation. On the other hand, we have Walmart workers, most of whom work for less than $25,000 a year. Most are women. And this Thanksgiving, more than 1 million of them have to go to work instead of spending the full day with their families.

For a long time, we’ve assumed there was one path to success for America’s kids: College prep courses in high school followed by four or more years of a college education. But that formula leaves a lot of people out...

The other day I read a statistic that made me laugh a little. It said women’s issues are shaping up as the second-biggest issue among voters this year, behind only the economy. Really? I don’t think so. We are the economy. Women’s issues, family issues, are economic issues. And, as we know every single day, economic issues are women’s issues. That’s why this election is so important to us. And why we’re so important in this election. In a few days, we’ll have the opportunity to determine what kind of economy we will have—what kind of future—by electing leaders who will work for all of us. In...

We’re just a few weeks away from an incredibly important election. The votes people cast Nov. 4 will shape our future and our children’s. I’m sure you are planning to vote, but maybe you know people who are on the fence—who think elections in non-presidential years just aren’t that important. Not true! Here are 11 great reasons you can share with them to get them to the polls: 11. Bad politicians aren’t just elected by people who vote for them. They’re also elected by people who don’t vote at all. Don’t help elect politicians who work against your interests. 10. You can elect leaders who will...

Well, they did it again. Senate Republican leaders last week blocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) bill that would let students refinance their college loans. It’s not the first time. They also did it in June. Don’t they understand that student loan debt is an emergency? It totals $1.2 trillion—and yes, that’s with a “T.” Sen. Warren’s bill would help 25 million student loan borrowers, saving them each an average of $2,000. It would help them, if not for the Republican leaders’ refusal to allow a vote on the bill. Once again, the Republicans are choosing to protect their millionaire and...

You’ve heard of the Koch Brothers, the ultra-rich, corporate extremists whose deep pockets are flooding election-season airwaves. Too often, their goals are part of a political playbook to drive down wages, cut Social Security and Medicare and secure more corporate tax breaks at the expense of our environment. Their money may dominate American politics and law-making, but their values and ideals sure don’t. We have a better alternative. Meet The Koch Sisters , Karen and Joyce, who share the same last name but not the same values as the infamous Koch Brothers. They’re not related to David and...

This Labor Day, throughout the nation we will pause to recognize the incredible achievements of America’s working women and men. We will gather in communities to march in parades, host barbecues and celebrate the people who really make this country run. But we also should recognize that despite our sweat, our sacrifice and our innovation, too many families are struggling to get by. This hasn’t happened by chance. Increasing political and corporate attacks on working people have pushed wages down for decades . Good jobs have become harder to find. Unemployment remains too high. Large raises...

A few weeks ago, President Obama convened a White House Summit on Working Families, an event attended by national leaders in business and labor. The event was designed to put the issues of working families under a national spotlight. I was proud to participate in this event, representing the AFL-CIO and millions of workers throughout the country, and I wrote at the time that collective action following the summit would be the true measure of the summit’s success. While the summit brought much-needed attention to urgent issues facing working families, we need real solutions to help us meet the...

I had the privilege to take part in the recent White House Summit on Working Families , and I wanted to share with you three points I shared with the 1,000 people who attended (about a quarter of whom were union members). The summit was in a prestigious ballroom in Washington, D.C. Many of the people in the room were high-powered business leaders interested in family-friendly workplace policies to help them recruit and retain the most sought-after workers in their fields. But I asked everyone to mentally draw a one-mile radius around the hotel and think about all the workers within it—...

Next week, people from all over the country will convene in Washington, D.C.—and many more will log in to participate virtually—at a White House Summit on Working Families. Under the banner of “creating a 21st century workplace that works for all Americans,” we’ll hear from businesses, economists, advocates, workers and, yes, labor leaders to discuss policy solutions that can make a difference in the lives of working families. It’s an important conversation and I look forward to seeing great examples of companies that give their employees meaningful benefits, fathers who take family leave...

Last week, moms who work at Walmart walked off the job across the country. Joined by co-workers and allies, they have been calling for respect and decent wages—at least $25,000 a year—and demanding an end to retaliation against employees who speak out for better working conditions. They also took their message to Walmart chairman and heir Rob Walton personally, and to the annual Walmart shareholders meeting. Walmart mom Evelin Cruz of the Pico Rivera, Calif., store said , “I’m striking for Barbara, for Tiffany and for other moms who Walmart has tried to silence. Our families cannot continue...

Today, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hosts a roundtable discussion on economic security for working women (you can see the livestream starting at 2:30 p.m. and find the participants’ testimony at http://help.senate.gov ). Lori Pelletier, executive secretary-treasurer of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, is taking part in the roundtable and pointing out some of the reasons a union card is one of the best things a woman can have in her wallet—including better pay and benefits, family-friendly work policies and a strong and effective voice in enacting women’s legislative...

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and caregivers out there. I hope you were able to have one of those priceless “me days” that are so restorative. There’s one group of moms I hope you’ll think about this Mother’s Day week: immigrant mothers who are separated from their children through deportation or detention. Immigrants have moved to this country to make a better life for themselves and their families, seeking the promise of opportunity that America represents. But every day more than 1,000 people are deported, tearing apart immigrant families, even forcing 17 children a day into foster...

Equal Pay Day was last week—but really, we should be talking about this every day, not just on April 8. I love the AMC hit show “Mad Men.” But I don’t love Mad Men-era pay. You can’t smoke in the office any more, but you can still pay women less than men. If women were asked to work for free for three months of the year, it would be an outrage. But that’s essentially what happens to the average working woman, who is paid just 77 cents on the dollar of a man’s pay. That average woman didn’t see her full year of 2013 pay until April 8, 2014—Equal Pay Day. The Equal Pay Act has been federal law...